Wednesday, July 1, 2015

VSNL, Dishnet, Now ISP,
Mantra Online – one may not remember or know them now …. They were the service providers for Dial-up connections, widely
used a decade ago. Dial-up Internet
access is a form of Internet access that uses the facilities of the public
switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a connection to an Internet
service provider (ISP) by dialing a telephone number on a conventional
telephone line. Those days, one had to
have a Telephone line and during browsing – no calls could be made nor any
received on that landline.

‘Wireless connections’ have
changed the way people access web. The Wi-fitechnology
uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed Internet andnetwork
connections. Some say that termWi-Fi is not short for "wireless fidelity," but
it actually is a trademarked phrase that means IEEE 802.11x. Wi-Fi is defined as any "wireless local
area network" (WLAN) product based on the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11 standards".The debate over just how
dangerous small electromagnetic signals are has been going on for years.
Doctors in the United States launched an unofficial campaign last year to try
and limit women’s exposure to phones, computers, microwave ovens and wireless
equipment, claiming the radiation they emit poses a threat to developing
babies.

Xiaomi Inc. also
"Millet Technology" is
a privately owned Chinese electronics company headquartered in Beijing,
China.The world's 3rd largest smartphone distributor, Xiaomi designs, develops,
and sells smartphones, mobile apps, and consumer electronics. Since the release of its first smartphone in
August 2011, Xiaomi has gained market share in mainland China and expanded into
developing a wider range of consumer electronics, including a smart home device
ecosystem. Xiaomi’s phones and
powerbanks sell like hotcakes in India too – on the web.

In the just published 2015
ranking list of MIT’s 50 smartest companies - Xiaomi climbed to the 2nd
position this year, up from 30th position last year, while Apple climbed to the
16th position, up from nowhere last year.
Apple might dominate a number of lists – but here it has to do lot of
catching with Xiaomi. There is another
Chinese company - Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd., an internet security company
known for its antivirus software (360 Safeguard, 360 Mobile Safe), Web Browser
(360 Browsers), and Mobile Application Store (360 Mobile Assistant), founded by Zhou Hongyi and Qi Xiangdong in
June 2005. It is its latest product that
is in news / controversy !!

Chinese tech firm Qihoo 360
launched an upgraded version of its P1 Wi-fi router late last week, which it
claims can protect pregnant women against radiation from electromagnetic
signals.The company, famous for its cyber-security products, released the
improved version of the six-month-old device just one day after rival Xiaomi,
China’s top smartphone maker, started selling its latest Wi-fi router, which it
claims can store a "lifetime" of photos.At a launch event this month,
he explained that the router can protect pregnant women from the potentially
harmful signals as it reduces them by up to 70 per cent.Qihoo 360 unveiled the device, an upgrade to an existing product,
which has three settings it describes on its website as wall penetration,
balance and "pregnant women".

Their statement that they
are targetting people who are afraid of radiation, immediately invited criticism
from Xiaomi over the use of such scare targets.“We firmly oppose, and feel
ashamed of, those who create rumours and arouse instability for business
purposes,” Xiaomi said on its official Weibo account."The so-called
pregnancy mode is just a marketing tactic. Wi-fi usage is safe, so please rest
assured when using it," Xiaomi said in a post on social media site Weibo.

The two firms are fierce
rivals. There is controversy surrounding
the health effects of electromagnetic signals such as wi-fi on humans -
although the low-level non-ionising kind used by telecommunications devices is
scientifically said not to cause significant harm.The BabySafe Wireless Project
is a US-based campaign group which argues that wireless radiation does pose a
risk to pregnant women and their unborn babies.However, the World Health
Organization says that the evidence so far does not support the claims.